DEFENCE

RAF Communications Hub

Adam Ingram: Air Combat Service Support Units provide logistics and communications support to RAF aircraft and units on deployed operations. In July 2004 we announced that we had decided to form these units into two hubs: a logistics hub and a communications hub, to enable the more effective use of defence resources. Accordingly, logistics units would move to RAF Wittering (Cambridgeshire); and communications units would move to RAF Scampton (Lincolnshire) alongside Air Surveillance and Control System (ASACS) units.
	The build up of the logistics hub at RAF Wittering has proceeded well and is scheduled to be completed by April 2006. Increased site preparation cost estimates at RAF Scampton have caused us to review whether this location remained the best value for money option for a communications hub. This work has now concluded and, subject to Trades Unions consultation, I have decided that the RAF communications hub will be formed at RAF Leeming (North Yorkshire) instead of RAF Scampton as this will be significantly more cost effective.
	This means that communications personnel would move from RAF Sealand to RAF Leeming by April 2006. Communications personnel from RAF Brize Norton and RAF High Wycombe would move to RAF Leeming in 2007. The future location of ASACS units, currently at RAF Scampton, RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey and RAF Boulmer, will be the subject of further work.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture and Fisheries Council

Margaret Beckett: I chaired the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 20 December for the agriculture items on the agenda. The Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw) chaired the fisheries items and the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Jim Knight) represented the United Kingdom. The Scottish Environment and Rural Affairs Minister (Ross Finnie), also attended.
	The Council unanimously adopted a revised directive on measures to control and eradicate avian influenza and reached unanimous political agreement on funding for avian influenza controls.
	In the absence of a qualified majority in favour or against, the Council was unable to reach decisions on the Commission's proposal to authorise the placing on the market of food produced from genetically modified maize variety 1507. In the absence of Council decisions, therefore, the Commission is now free to implement its proposal under its own competence.
	The Council adopted conclusions on the Commission's Communication on Simplification and Better Regulation for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), stressing actions to deliver real reductions in administrative burdens in the agriculture sector.
	The Council adopted the first stage of the European Community and United States agreement on trade in wine, a major achievement after 20 years of negotiation with the EU's biggest export market.
	At the request of Germany, the Council discussed the implementation of cross compliance rules under the CAP single payment scheme. In response to concerns from member states the Commission recommended the problem be looked at during the review of cross compliance in 2007.
	The Council reached agreement on total allowable catches and quotas for fishing in the Baltic sea and on total allowable catches (TACS) and quotas and related measures in waters outside the Baltic (the latter regulation covers the waters in which the UK has a fishing interest).
	The Baltic regulation also included effort control measures, mainly in the form of seasonal closures of parts of the Baltic to protect cod.
	The wider regulation included further action to protect cod stocks including modest cuts in days for the whitefish fleet and larger cuts for the smaller mesh sectors which have high levels of discards (mainly beam trawlers and nephrops trawlers). There were also 15 per cent. cuts in cod TACs. Among the other significant changes were large increases in TACs for the important nephrops fisheries and severe restrictions on the industrial fishery for North sea sandeels. The regulation imposes a cut in effort on deep sea stocks and a ban on the use of fixed nets in deep waters to the west of Ireland. All member states agreed the two regulations apart from Sweden who voted against the Baltic regulation and abstained on the general TACs and quota regulation.
	Prior to the Council an agreement—after six years of negotiation—had been reached between the EU, Norway, Iceland and the Faroes on a total allowable catch and split of the TAC for blue whiting. The Council agreed a split of the agreed EU share between the interested countries.
	The council reached unanimous political agreement on recovery measures for Bay of Biscay sole.
	Under "Any Other Business", the Fisheries Commissioner presented an action plan for simplifying and improving the Common Fisheries Policy in 2006–08.
	The Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner updated the Council on the recent outbreaks of avian influenza in Ukraine and Romania. He also gave an update on the development of the Commission's action plan on animal welfare which will be published in January.
	Spain, supported by Portugal and Greece called on the Commission to provide assistance to neighbouring third countries, particularly those in North Africa, to combat animal diseases particularly bluetongue and rabies. Discussions would continue in 2006.
	Italy, supported by Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Latvia and Malta, asked the Commission to act to improve the state of the poultrymeat market, following a drop in sales after the avian influenza outbreak. The Commission said it had increased both the level and the product coverage of export refunds for poultry.
	The Commission issued a press release, before the Council meeting saying it had decided to end export subsidies on live animal exports to third countries and would put the relevant proposal to Management Committee on 23 December.
	The Agriculture Commission decided not to give the planned update on the WTO agriculture negotiations in Hong Kong since all delegations had been represented there, many at ministerial level.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan: London Conference

Kim Howells: The UK will host an international conference on Afghanistan in London on 31 January and 1 February. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will open the conference with His Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. My right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Secretary of State for Defence, the Secretary of State for International Development and I will represent the UK at different sessions.
	The conference has three aims:
	(a) to launch the Afghanistan Compact, which is the successor to the Bonn Agreement, and will provide a framework for international community engagement in Afghanistan for the next five years. The Compact will also establish a new coordination and monitoring mechanism to achieve greater coherence of effort between the Afghan Government and the international community, led for the latter by the UN.
	(b) to provide an opportunity for the Government of Afghanistan to present its interim Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS) to the international community. The strategy will set out the Afghan Government's priorities for accelerating development, increasing security, tackling the drugs trade, and strengthening governance. The Government of Afghanistan will also launch its updated National Drugs Control Strategy (NDCS) at the London conference.
	(c) to ensure that the Government of Afghanistan has adequate resources to meet its domestic ambitions and international commitments. The conference will review existing aid flows and future plans, and agree ways to improve the co-ordination, predictability and effective use of development assistance better to support the Afghan Government's priorities.
	While the main conference focus will be the launch of the Afghanistan Compact, there will also be an opportunity to make new pledges in support of the aims outlined in the interim ANDS and the NDCS. Following the opening session and the launch of the Compact, there will be further sessions on political perspectives, security, counter-narcotics, governance and on reconstruction and development. The conference will be co-chaired throughout by the Afghan Government, UK and UN.

HEALTH

Health and Social Care Information (PPP)

Patricia Hewitt: A new public-private partnership is to be formed through a joint venture between the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), (a special health authority established on 1 April 2005 with responsibility for managing and developing NHS and social care data resources) and Dr Foster Ltd, a commercial provider of healthcare information.
	The joint venture takes the form of a new company, to be called Dr Foster Intelligence; 50 per cent. of the company will be owned by the HSCIC, 50 per cent. by a new private company Dr Foster Holdings LLP. All the existing health service related business of Dr Foster will migrate to the joint venture, together with some of HSCIC's existing services. The HSCIC is investing £12 million in the joint venture: a direct injection of £4.4 million equity into Dr Foster Intelligence Ltd to fund working capital requirements and a payment of £7.6 million to Dr Foster as a further contribution to working capital in Dr Foster Intelligence Ltd and to compensate the shareholders of Dr Foster Ltd.
	The aim of the joint venture is to improve use and accessibility of information across the health and care system, in support of the overall aim of giving people more choice and control over health and social care. It will compete with other providers of management information solutions to support better commissioning, choice, quality and efficiency: all areas of the reform programme where better use of information by patients, users, professionals and managers is vital.
	Dr Foster Intelligence Ltd will be managed as a private company, with a board of six members: three from HSCIC and three from Dr Foster Holdings LLP. It will compete for business on the open market in the health and care system; and it will have no privileged access to data provided by HSCIC. It will be launched officially on 13 February.
	The statutory functions of the HSCIC are unchanged. It will retain responsibility for data collection and for ensuring equitable access to public information and will continue to manage national statistics. It will be a principal shareholder in Dr Foster Intelligence Ltd; but it will be free to work with other organisations in the development of data services and products. It will establish an information suppliers forum and will be transparent in the rules governing access to and use of information from the health and care system. A consultation document setting out the details of this approach will be issued in February. This is a positive and welcome example of the public and private sectors combining to work in partnership in support of better services for patients and the public.

HOME DEPARTMENT

A Co-ordinated Strategy for Prostitution

Fiona Mactaggart: The summary of responses to "Paying the Price: A Public Consultation Paper on Prostitution" and a co-ordinated strategy for prostitution have been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library and are available from the Home Office website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-paying-the-price.
	The consultation exercise was the starting point for the development of a realistic and coherent strategy to deal with prostitution and its serious detrimental consequences for individuals and communities. The Government have considered in detail the arguments for and against managed areas and have concluded that they would create misery for the communities in which they were located, could attract other criminal activity and would not necessarily improve safety or conditions for those involved in prostitution. They would also imply an acceptance of street prostitution. Instead the Government's approach is to address all aspects of the street sex market to significantly reduce the numbers of those involved and to restore respect and safety to local communities.
	The strategy provides a framework for local areas to disrupt street markets and to crack down on commercial sexual exploitation. It aims to reduce the numbers of those selling sex through preventive measures which will safeguard children and young people at risk of commercial sexual exploitation, and through the development of routes out for those already trapped in prostitution. It aims to reduce the demand for sex markets by sustained enforcement of the law against kerb crawlers. The strategy also focuses on the need to crack down on the groomers, the traffickers and others who control prostitution through the robust legal framework laid down in the Sexual Offences Act 2003.